Our new cordless phone at home from Panasonic has a cool feature which I have only seen in English sitcoms - an answering machine!

This is a wonderful add-on for our homes. I simply plug in my phone line to this cordless phone and I am on! The default option is to have the answering mode “ON”. This means, after a predetermined number of rings, the base station of the cordless phone will pick up the call, play a message instructing the user to leave a brief message and then beep.

As the end user, you have the option of choosing how many rings you want to turn the machine on. You can also choose to record the welcome message in your own voice.

Another cool feature on the phone is that you can dial into your own phone from a remote location, enter a secret password and play/erase your messages.

When you have a new message, the lights on the machine blink periodically to catch your attention. I find the answering machine to be an amazing advancement in India where it is yet to gain popularity. That would explain why many people are clueless what to do after the beep and they usually hang up.

One small disadvantage about my system is that the Caller ID system on it is incompatible with the Indian system. So if the person fails to leave a message you cannot know who really called. On the other hand, you could have a parallel landline which has a compatible caller ID system.

So, do you have an answering machine at home or would you be planning to buy one? Do leave your comments behind.